Reanalyzing Variation in Written Taiwanese Southern Min: Proposing a Three Camp Framework
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Date
2023-01
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Publisher
Ohio State University. Libraries
Abstract
Standard Written Mandarin serves as the official standardized method of communication for much of China and Taiwan. Taiwanese Southern Min, conversely, has been characterized by some scholars as “chaos” due to the lack of a single unified system and heritage (Klöter 2005:249). However, the author proposes the Three Camp Framework to describe systematic variation in written Taiwanese through the analysis of multiple published sources. The Etymologist Camp is focused on the historical lineage and the reconstruction of original characters. The Modernist Camp incorporates the pluralistic influences on Taiwanese in its promoted standards. Finally, the Localist Camp promotes the usage of characters that have a local history or tradition in Taiwan. Within these groupings, samples of Written Taiwanese bear strong resemblance, differing mostly between the camps. The Three Camps Framework calls into question some preconceptions about “unstandardized” written language, thus being an important consideration for future work in the field.
Description
Keywords
Taiwanese Southern Min, orthography, sociolinguistics, language variation
Citation
Cockrum, Paul. "Reanalyzing Variation in Written Taiwanese Southern Min: Proposing a Three Camp Framework." Buckeye East Asian Linguistics, vol. 6 (January 2023), p. 15-32.